We, the Delegates of the Colonies of New-Hampshire,
Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations,
Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania,
the Counties of Newcastle Kent and Sussex on Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina and South-Carolina,
deputed by the inhabitants of the said Colonies, to represent
them in a General Congress at Philadelphia, in the
province of Pennsylvania, to consult together concerning
the best methods to obtain redress of our afflicting grievances,
having accordingly assembled, and taken into our
most serious consideration the state of public affairs on
this continent, have thought proper to address your province,
as a member therein deeply interested.

When the fortune of war, after a gallant and glorious
resistance, had incorporated you with the body of English
subjects, we rejoiced in the truly valuable addition, both
on our own and your account; expecting, as courage and
generosity are naturally united, our brave enemies would
become our hearty friends, and that the Divine Being
would bless to you the dispensations of his over-ruling
providence, by securing to you and your latest posterity
the inestimable advantages of a free English constitution
of government, which it is the privilege of all English subjects
to enjoy.

These hopes were confirmed by the King's proclamation,
issued in the year 1763, plighting the public faith for
your full enjoyment of those advantages.

Little did we imagine that any succeeding Ministers
would so audaciously and cruelly abuse the royal authority,
as to with-hold from you the fruition of the irrevocable
rights, to which you were thus justly entitled.

But since we have lived to see the unexpected time,
when Ministers of this flagitious temper, have dared to violate
the most sacred compacts and obligations, and as
you, educated under another form of government, have
artfully been kept from discovering the unspeakable worth
of that form you are now undoubtedly entitled to, we esteem
it our duty, for the weighty reasons herein after
mentioned, to explain to you some of its most important
branches.

"In every human society," says the celebrated Marquis
Beccaria, "there is an effort, continually tending to confer on
one part the heighth of power and happiness, and to reduce
the other to the extreme of weakness and misery.
The intent of good laws is to oppose this effort, and to diffuse
their influence universally and equally."

Rulers stimulated by this pernicious "effort," and subjects
animated by the just "intent of opposing good laws
against it," have occasioned that vast variety of events, that
fill the histories of so many nations. All these histories
demonstrate the truth of this simple position, that to live
by the will of one man, or sett of men, is the production
of misery to all men.

On the solid foundation of this principle, Englishmen
reared up the fabrick of their constitution with such a
strength, as for ages to defy time, tyranny, treachery, internal
and foreign wars: And, as an illustrious author of
your nation, hereafter mentioned, observes,--"They gave
the people of their Colonies, the form of their own government,
and this government carrying prosperity along
with it, they have grown great nations in the forests they
were sent to inhabit."

In this form, the first grand right, is that of the people
having a share in their own government by their representatives
chosen by themselves, and, in consequence, of
being ruled by laws, which they themselves approve, not
by edicts of men over whom they have no controul. This is
a bulwark surrounding and defending their property,
which by their honest cares and labours they have acquired,
so that no portions of it can legally be taken from
them, but with their own full and free consent, when they
in their judgment deem it just and necessary to give them
for public service, and precisely direct the easiest, cheapest,
and most equal methods, in which they shall be collected.

The influence of this right extends still farther. If
money is wanted by Rulers, who have in any manner oppressed
the people, they may retain it, until their grievances
are redressed; and thus peaceably procure relief,
without trusting to despised petitions, or disturbing the
public tranquillity.

The next great right is that of trial by jury. This provides,
that neither life, liberty nor property, can be taken
from the possessor, until twelve of his unexceptionable
countrymen and peers of his vicinage, who from that
neighbourhood may reasonably be supposed to be acquainted
with his character, and the characters of the witnesses,
upon a fair trial, and full enquiry, face to face, in
open Court, before as many of the people as chuse to attend,
shall pass their sentence upon oath against him; a
sentence that cannot injure him, without injuring their
own reputation, and probably their interest also; as the
question may turn on points, that, in some degree, concern
the general welfare; and if it does not, their verdict
may form a precedent, that, on a similar trial of their own,
may militate against themselves.

Another right relates merely to the liberty of the person.
If a subject is seized and imprisoned, tho' by order
of Government, he may, by virtue of this right, immediately
obtain a writ, termed a Habeas Corpus, from a
Judge, whose sworn duty it is to grant it, and thereupon
procure any illegal restraint to be quickly enquired into
and redressed.

A fourth right, is that of holding lands by the tenure of
easy rents, and not by rigorous and oppressive services,
frequently forcing the possessors from their families and
their business, to perform what ought to be done, in all
well regulated states, by men hired for the purpose.

The last right we shall mention, regards the freedom of
the press. The importance of this consists, besides the advancement
of truth, science, morality, and arts in general,
in its diffusion of liberal sentiments on the administration
of Government, its ready communication of thoughts between
subjects, and its consequential promotion of union
among them, whereby oppressive officers are shamed or
intimidated, into more honourable and just modes of conducting
affairs.

These are the invaluable rights, that form a considerable
part of our mild system of government; that, sending its
equitable energy through all ranks and classes of men, defends
the poor from the rich, the weak from the powerful,
the industrious from the rapacious, the peaceable from the
violent, the tenants from the lords, and all from their superiors.

These are the rights, without which a people cannot be
free and happy, and under the protecting and encouraging
influence of which, these colonies have hitherto so
amazingly flourished and increased. These are the rights,
a profligate Ministry are now striving, by force of arms, to
ravish from us, and which we are, with one mind, resolved
never to resign but with our lives.

These are the rights you are entitled to and ought at this
moment in perfection, to exercise. And what is offered to
you by the late Act of Parliament in their place? Liberty of
conscience in your religion? No. God gave it to you; and
the temporal powers with which you have been and are
connected, firmly stipulated for your enjoyment of it. If
laws, divine and human, could secure it against the despotic
caprices of wicked men, it was secured before. Are
the French laws in civil cases restored? It seems so. But observe
the cautious kindness of the Ministers, who pretend
to be your benefactors. The words of the statute are--that
those "laws shall be the rule, until they shall be varied or
altered by any ordinances of the Governor and Council." Is
the "certainty and lenity of the criminal law of England,
and its benefits and advantages," commended in the said
statute, and said to "have been sensibly felt by you," secured
to you and your descendants? No. They too are subjected
to arbitrary "alterations" by the Governor and Council;
and a power is expressly reserved of appointing "such
courts of criminal, civil, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as
shall be thought proper." Such is the precarious tenure of
mere will, by which you hold your lives and religion. The
Crown and its Ministers are impowered, as far as they
could be by Parliament, to establish even the Inquisition itself
among you. Have you an Assembly composed of worthy
men, elected by yourselves, and in whom you can confide,
to make laws for you, to watch over your welfare, and
to direct in what quantity, and in what manner, your
money shall be taken from you? No. The power of making
laws for you is lodged in the governor and council, all of
them dependent upon, and removeable at, the pleasure of
a Minister. Besides, another late statute, made without
your consent, has subjected you to the impositions of Excise,
the horror of all free states; thus wresting your property
from you by the most odious of taxes, and laying open
to insolent tax-gatherers, houses, the scenes of domestic
peace and comfort, and called the castles of English subjects
in the books of their law. And in the very act for
altering your government, and intended to flatter you, you
are not authorized to "assess, levy, or apply any rates and
taxes, but for the inferior purposes of making roads, and
erecting and repairing public buildings, or for other local
conveniences, within your respective towns and districts."
Why this degrading distinction? Ought not the property,
honestly acquired by Canadians, to be held as sacred as
that of Englishmen? Have not Canadians sense enough to
attend to any other public affairs, than gathering stones
from one place, and piling them up in another? Unhappy
people! who are not only injured, but insulted. Nay
more!--With such a superlative contempt of your understanding
and spirit, has an insolent Ministry presumed to
think of you, our respectable fellow-subjects, according to
the information we have received, as firmly to perswade
themselves that your gratitude, for the injuries and insults
they have recently offered to you, will engage you to take
up arms, and render yourselves the ridicule and detestation
of the world, by becoming tools, in their hands, to
assist them in taking that freedom from us, which they
have treacherously denied to you; the unavoidable consequence
of which attempt, if successful, would be the extinction
of all hopes of you or your posterity being ever
restored to freedom: For idiocy itself cannot believe, that,
when their drudgery is performed, they will treat you with
less cruelty than they have us, who are of the same blood
with themselves.

What would your countryman, the immortal Montesquieu,
have said to such a plan of domination, as has been
framed for you? Hear his words, with an intenseness of
thought suited to the importance of the subject.--"In a
free state, every man, who is supposed a free agent, ought
to be concerned in his own government: Therefore the legislative
should reside in the whole body of the people, or their
representatives."--"The political liberty of the subject is a
tranquillity of mind, arising from the opinion each person
has of his safety. In order to have this liberty, it is requisite
the government be so constituted, as that one man need
not be afraid of another. When the power of making laws,
and the power of executing them, are united in the same
person, or in the same body of Magistrates, there can be no
liberty; because apprehensions may arise, lest the same
Monarch or Senate, should enact tyrannical laws, to execute
them in a tyrannical manner."

"The power of judging should be exercised by persons
taken from the body of the people, at certain times of the
year, and pursuant to a form and manner prescribed by
law. There is no liberty, if the power of judging be not separated
from the legislative and executive powers."

"Military men belong to a profession, which may be useful,
but is often dangerous."--"The enjoyment of liberty,
and even its support and preservation, consists in every
man's being allowed to speak his thoughts, and lay open
his sentiments."

Apply these decisive maxims, sanctified by the authority
of a name which all Europe reveres, to your own state.
You have a Governor, it may be urged, vested with the
executive powers, or the powers of administration: In him,
and in your Council, is lodged the power of making laws.
You have Judges, who are to decide every cause affecting
your lives, liberty or property. Here is, indeed, an appearance
of the several powers being separated and distributed
into different hands, for checks one upon another, the only
effectual mode ever invented by the wit of men, to promote
their freedom and prosperity. But scorning to be illuded
by a tinsel'd outside, and exerting the natural sagacity
of Frenchmen, examine the specious device, and you will
find it, to use an expression of holy writ, "a whited sepulchre,"
for burying your lives, liberty and property.

Your Judges, and your Legislative Council, as it is called,
are dependant on your Governor, and he is dependant on the
servant of the Crown, in Great-Britain. The legislative, executive
and judging powers are all moved by the nods of a
Minister. Privileges and immunities last no longer than his
smiles. When he frowns, their feeble forms dissolve. Such
a treacherous ingenuity has been exerted in drawing up
the code lately offered you, that every sentence, beginning
with a benevolent pretension, concludes with a destructive
power; and the substance of the whole, divested of its
smooth words, is--that the Crown and its Ministers shall
be as absolute throughout your extended province, as the
despots of Asia or Africa. What can protect your property
from taxing edicts, and the rapacity of necessitous and
cruel masters? your persons from Letters de Cachet, gaols,
dungeons, and oppressive services? your lives and general
liberty from arbitrary and unfeeling rulers? We defy you,
casting your view upon every side, to discover a single circumstance,
promising from any quarter the faintest hope
of liberty to you or your posterity, but from an entire
adoption into the union of these Colonies.

What advice would the truly great man before-mentioned,
that advocate of freedom and humanity, give you,
was he now living, and knew that we, your numerous and
powerful neighbours, animated by a just love of our invaded
rights, and united by the indissoluble bands of affection
and interest, called upon you, by every obligation
of regard for yourselves and your children, as we now do,
to join us in our righteous contest, to make common cause
with us therein, and take a noble chance for emerging
from a humiliating subjection under Governors, Intendants,
and Military Tyrants, into the firm rank and condition
of English freemen, whose custom it is, derived
from their ancestors, to make those tremble, who dare to
think of making them miserable?

Would not this be the purport of his address? "Seize the
opportunity presented to you by Providence itself. You
have been conquered into liberty, if you act as you ought.
This work is not of man. You are a small people, compared
to those who with open arms invite you into a fellowship.
A moment's reflection should convince you which
will be most for your interest and happiness, to have all
the rest of North-America your unalterable friends, or
your inveterate enemies. The injuries of Boston have
roused and associated every colony, from Nova-Scotia to
Georgia. Your province is the only link wanting, to compleat
the bright and strong chain of union. Nature has
joined your country to theirs. Do you join your political
interests. For their own sakes, they never will desert or
betray you. Be assured, that the happiness of a people
inevitably depends on their liberty, and their spirit to assert
it. The value and extent of the advantages tendered
to you are immense. Heaven grant you may not discover
them to be blessings after they have bid you an eternal
adieu."

We are too well acquainted with the liberality of sentiment
distinguishing your nation, to imagine, that difference
of religion will prejudice you against a hearty amity
with us. You know, that the transcendant nature of freedom
elevates those, who unite in her cause, above all such
low-minded infirmities. The Swiss Cantons furnish a memorable
proof of this truth. Their union is composed of Roman
Catholic and Protestant States, living in the utmost
concord and peace with one another, and thereby enabled,
ever since they bravely vindicated their freedom, to defy
and defeat every tyrant that has invaded them.

Should there be any among you, as there generally are
in all societies, who prefer the favours of Ministers, and
their own private interests, to the welfare of their country,
the temper of such selfish persons will render them incredibly
active in opposing all public-spirited measures, from
an expectation of being well rewarded for their sordid industry,
by their superiors; but we doubt not you will be
upon your guard against such men, and not sacrifice the
liberty and happiness of the whole Canadian people and
their posterity, to gratify the avarice and ambition of individuals.

We do not ask you, by this address, to commence acts of
hostility against the government of our common Sovereign.
We only invite you to consult your own glory and
welfare, and not to suffer yourselves to be inveigled or
intimidated by infamous ministers so far, as to become the
instruments of their cruelty and despotism, but to unite
with us in one social compact, formed on the generous
principles of equal liberty, and cemented by such an exchange
of beneficial and endearing offices as to render it
perpetual. In order to complete this highly desirable
union, we submit it to your consideration, whether it may
not be expedient for you to meet together in your several
towns and districts, and elect Deputies, who afterwards
meeting in a provincial Congress, may chuse Delegates, to
represent your province in the continental Congress to be
held at Philadelphia on the tenth day of May, 1775.

In this present Congress, beginning on the fifth of the
last month, and continued to this day, it has been, with
universal pleasure and an unanimous vote, resolved, That
we should consider the violation of your rights, by the act
for altering the government of your province, as a violation
of our own, and that you should be invited to accede
to our confederation, which has no other objects than the
perfect security of the natural and civil rights of all the
constituent members, according to their respective circumstances,
and the preservation of a happy and lasting connection
with Great-Britain, on the salutary and constitutional
principles herein before mentioned. For effecting
these purposes, we have addressed an humble and loyal
petition to his Majesty, praying relief of our and your
grievances; and have associated to stop all importations
from Great-Britain and Ireland, after the first day of December,
and all exportations to those Kingdoms and the
West-Indies, after the tenth day of next September, unless
the said grievances are redressed.

That Almighty God may incline your minds to approve
our equitable and necessary measures, to add yourselves
to us, to put your fate, whenever you suffer injuries which
you are determined to oppose, not on the small influence
of your single province, but on the consolidated powers of
North-America, and may grant to our joint exertions an
event as happy as our cause is just, is the fervent prayer of
us, your sincere and affectionate friends and fellow-subjects.